10 Git Commands You’ll Wish You Knew Earlier

Git can feel intimidating when you’re starting out. Most of us stick to the basics: git add, git commit, and git push, and honestly, that works… until it doesn’t. At some point, you’re going to hit a roadblock—a tangled history, a broken branch, or a bug you just can’t trace.

That’s when these 10 Git commands become lifesavers.

1. git reflog
Ever made a mistake so bad you wished you could turn back time? git reflog is the time machine you didn’t know you had.

What it does:
It tracks every single thing you’ve done in your repository—even commits you thought were lost.

When to use:

• You accidentally deleted a branch.
• You need to recover a commit after a bad reset.

Command:
git reflog

2. git cherry-pick
Imagine this: there’s one perfect commit on another branch, and you need it now without merging the entire branch. That’s where git cherry-pick comes in.

What it does:
It lets you pick specific commits from one branch and apply them to another.

When to use:

• You want a bug fix from feature-branch in main without merging the entire branch.

Command:
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

3. git bisect
Debugging a bug that suddenly appeared? Instead of manually checking each commit, let Git do the detective work for you.

What it does:
Performs a binary search through your commit history to find the exact commit that introduced a bug.

When to use:

• When you have a bug, but you’re not sure which commit caused it.

Command:
git bisect start
git bisect bad # Mark the current commit as bad
git bisect good <commit-hash> # Mark a known good commit

Git will keep narrowing down the commits until it finds the culprit.

4. git stash pop
You’ve been there—halfway through coding when a critical bug report comes in. You need to switch branches without losing your work.

What it does:

• Stashes your uncommitted changes so you can come back to them later.

Why pop?
git stash saves your work, but git stash pop restores it and removes it from the stash list, keeping things tidy.

Command:
git stash pop

5. git reset --soft
Ever made a commit and realized you weren’t ready yet? Maybe you forgot to squash it with the previous one?

What it does:
Moves your commit back to the staging area without losing your changes.

When to use:

• You want to rework a commit without losing progress.

Command:
git reset --soft HEAD~1

6. git blame
Yes, the name sounds accusatory, but it’s not about pointing fingers (or maybe it is).

What it does:
Shows who last modified each line in a file.

When to use:

• You’re trying to understand why a particular change was made.

Command:
git blame <file>

7. git log --oneline --graph
Looking at a repository with multiple branches can feel overwhelming. This command gives you a bird’s-eye view of your project.

What it does:
Displays your commit history in a simple, visual format.

When to use:

• To understand the history of a branch or how branches diverged and merged.

Command:
git log --oneline --graph --all

8. git clean -f
Sometimes, your working directory gets messy—untracked files piling up everywhere. git clean is like a spring cleaning for your repo.

What it does:
Removes untracked files from your working directory.

When to use:

• You’ve tried to git pull, but it’s failing due to conflicting untracked files.

Command:
git clean -f

9. git rebase -i
Interactive rebasing is the magic wand for cleaning up messy commit histories.

What it does:
Lets you squash, edit, or delete commits during a rebase.

When to use:

• Before merging, to make your commit history look clean and professional.

Command:
git rebase -i HEAD~<number-of-commits>

Pro tip: Use this sparingly on public branches to avoid conflicts.

10. git diff --staged
Before committing, wouldn’t it be nice to see exactly what’s staged? That’s where git diff --staged comes in.

What it does:
Shows changes between your staging area and your last commit.

When to use:

• Double-checking staged changes before committing.

Command:
git diff --staged

Which of these commands are new to you? Or do you have an underrated favorite that didn’t make the list? Let’s hear it in the comments!